Solano saw big increase in homicides during 2010

While statewide crime statistics show a reduction in homicide rates last year, the California Department of Justice has released numbers showing a marked upswing in the number of homicides in Solano County.

The county saw 33 homicides in 2010, an increase of 13 over the previous year's 20, according to the report. It broke homicides down by county and by rate per 100,000 population.

Solano County Sheriff Gary Stanton says the increase is cause for concern.

Although Stanton could not attribute the increase to a single cause, he believes it's the combination of multiple factors, ranging from east Bay Area influences, gang crimes and drug use, to having fewer officers on the streets. Perhaps most notably, he cited the dismal economy during the last few years resulting in "crimes of desperation."

"It implies that Solano County is not as safe as we would want it to be, and that has to be addressed," Stanton said. "How it's going to be addressed, remains to be seen."

To help turn things around, Stanton said it will be necessary to hire more law enforcement officers, particularly more probation officers. He noted that a number of offenders are those on probation.

"These are the areas we are cutting back right now," he said.

Stanton said he expects the "downward spiral" to continue for the next year or so.

"I think we can definitely turn it around," he said, "but it's going to take time and money. Right now I don't think we have the will to do it."

Other counties, such as Sacramento and San Joaquin counties also saw their rates climb during the same period. Among the states' 35 most populous counties, Monterey and Merced had the highest homicide rates at 10 per 100,000 people in 2010.

However, numbers were more encouraging in other parts of California where, as a whole, the state saw its lowest homicide level in more than four decades, according to the Department of Justice.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego had lower rates, while the rates in San Francisco, Kern and Orange counties remained level.

There were 4.7 reported homicides for every 100,000 people in California, a 7.8 percent decline from 2009, according to the figures.

The 2010 rate is the lowest since 1966 and also marked the fifth consecutive year that homicides in California have declined, said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Kamala Harris' office.

California statistics mirror national crime figures. The rate for murder and non-negligent manslaughter nationwide fell to 4.8 per 100,000 people -- less than half of what it was two decades ago, according to FBI crime data released in September.

The last time that rate was so low was 1963.

An aging population, better policing and high rates of imprisonment are helping to drive down crime rates, criminologists said.

The homicide rate in California, the nation's most populous state with more than 37 million people, has dropped about 40 percent since peaking in the early 1990s, said Robert Weisberg, a law professor at Stanford University.

"The homicide rate drop is both interesting and promising and it parallels the national trends," said Weisberg, director of Stanford's Criminal Justice Center.

State figures show more than 80 percent of homicide victims in 2010 were male. Hispanics made up the largest percentage at 44.5 percent, slightly down from nearly 47 percent in 2009.

Nearly 30 percent of all homicide victims in 2010 were black, up from 27 percent in 2009.